The Fishery for Antarctic Krill: Its Current Status and Management Regime

Antarctic krill has been fished commercially in the Southern Ocean since the 1970s and has been consistently the largest fishery, by tonnage, in the region since then. The fishery has seen changes in the nations involved, with early catches dominated by vessels from the USSR, Japanese vessels in the middle years and, more recently, most of the catch has been taken by vessels from Norway. A variety of products have emerged from the fishery with early efforts aimed at human consumption but latterly, the bulk of the catch has been used as high-end aquaculture feed with a small but valuable fraction being used to produce krill oil. The fishery has been managed by the international Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources which recognised the potential threat to the marine ecosystem through krill harvesting and which has implemented a precautionary approach to management of the fishery. Currently the fishery catches approximately 300,000 tonnes annually, all from the South Atlantic, where the precautionary catch limit has been set at 5.6 million tonnes. The fishery and its management regime will face challenges in the future with the emergence of new technologies, increased catches by new entrants and environmental changes.